NEW YOGA STUDIO

The Uttara Yoga Studio stands inconspicuously on Kirk Avenue.

But, open the door at 112 B, follow the steep stairs upstairs and discover a peaceful oasis with high ceilings, wood floors and expansive windows letting in light.

The owner, Jill Loftis, wanted to create an inviting space where people could improve their health and their lives. She opened the studio on June 1 and teaches classes along with another instructor Vanessa Fassie.

'I wanted them to feel like they weren't even in Roanoke; that they could escape from their lives for an hour,' Loftis said.

Until recently, Loftis was a 41 year old, stay at home mother of three. She looks a good decade younger and credits yoga for that.

With her red rectangular glasses and light blond hair pulled into a ponytail, Loftis energetically described her love for yoga on a recent day in her studio.

She decided to try yoga eight years ago after watching a show called 'Inhale' on the Oxygen channel.

'Look at all those happy, fit people,' Loftis said she thought to herself.

At the time, she had recently had her second child. Yoga helped her lose her post pregnancy weight and feel energized.

'It's one of the great things about yoga. All you need is a mat, a little space and a little time,' Loftis said.

As she continued, she said she began to feel the energy inside her body and realized how such energy affected her mind, emotions and everything in her life.

She started to teach yoga to children and said she believes the practice teaches kids two important, life long lessons: how to breathe and how to listen to their intuition.

Loftis has taught at Roanoke Catholic School and Roanoke Ballet Theatre as well as at special groups such as the South Roanoke Boy Scouts.

She believes that kids can relate to a lot of yoga poses that correspond to animals such as the 'downward dog,' and cow and cat positions. To prove her point, she jumps on all fours and begins to hiss and moo as she arches and contracts her back.

Loftis has also done workshops aimed at pre teen females called 'Shakti girl' workshops. She explains them by saying, tongue in cheek, that she would personally never want to be 13 again and would like to do something to help.

It was the experience of teaching yoga at Roanoke's Bethany Hall, a residential treatment program for women recovering from alcohol and drug addiction, that made her want to open her own studio and teach adults. She started teaching at Bethany Hall two years ago and quickly learned to adapt to changing situations. For instance, she said she would plan a program only to discover that most of the women that day were pregnant or were actively in detox and she needed to adjust the practice.

'It made me be able to teach on the fly,' Loftis said. 'I would never have had the guts to teach if it wasn't for that.'

During that time, Loftis also completed her 200 hour Hatha Yoga teacher certificate through a home-study program with the Temple of Kriya Yoga.

Most yoga practices typically end with the Savasana, or corpse pose, in which people lie on the floor in a completely relaxed position with their arms and legs spread. For almost three years, Loftis would avoid the pose because she felt she couldn't spare the time, that there were other things she had to be doing.

She later realized how important it was to add completion to her practice after she taught people who would sometimes cry in that pose and she would pass out tissues to them.

Loftis wants Uttara to be a holistic place where people can do more than just improve their physical fitness.

'I want to be able to create a place where people can come to improve their lives and be happier no matter what their goals are,' she said.

By Jessica Marcy

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